Bad start to the day

Two finals with the participation of Russian athletes were planned at the Roland Garros on Saturday.

In the doubles tournament among girls, Maria Bondarenko and Diana Schneider had a chance for the title.

However, just like Alina Charaeva and Anastasia Tikhonova last year, they were defeated.

Italians Eleanor Alvizi and Lisa Pigato became the offenders of the Russians.

On the way to the finals, they knocked out the pairs, seeded under the second and third numbers.

Bondarenko and Schneider, who had the fifth number, also could not stop this duet.

In the first set, they lost in a tie-break, and the second lost with a score of 4: 6.

Italy's doubles duo deliver ... 🇮🇹



Eleonora Alvisi and Lisa Pigato win the girls' doubles title after beating Russia's Maria Bondarenko and Diana Shnaider in straight sets!

🏆 # RolandGarrospic.twitter.com / MxzrgjgdOO

- ITF (@ITF_Tennis) October 10, 2020

Charaeva's second defeat

Alina Charaeva could please the Russian fans.

She reached the final of the junior Roland Garros, but now in singles, and met with the local tennis player Elsa Jacquemo.

Charaeva managed to win the first set, but in the end she also knew defeat.

The exit of the 18-year-old Russian woman in the final itself was quite unexpected.

Charaeva performed without seeding, but in the second round she beat Victoria Jimenez-Kasintseva, the first racket of the world among juniors, representing Andorra.

Then she constantly had to overcome the resistance of rivals who were nominally stronger than her.

One of them was Polina Kudermetova, whom Charaeva beat in the semifinals.

In the final, the fans' sympathies were clearly on the side of Jacquemot, who could become the first Frenchwoman in nine years to win the Roland Garros junior.

Charaeva hoped to repeat the success of Daria Kasatkina, who won in 2014.

The Russian woman started the meeting powerfully and won six points in a row, leading with a break.

Jacquemo was able to recoup, but Charaeva again took someone else's serve and did not allow her opponent to realize a break point with a score of 5: 4 in her favor.

In the second set, the Russian tennis player was doing just as well, and at some point she had only five points left to win to win the title.

However, Jacquemot won four games in a row, losing only a point in the last two, and equalized the score in sets.

The Frenchwoman began the third game by doubling her streak of won games.

Charaeva managed to answer with two breaks, but on her serve she could no longer do anything with her opponent.

Jacquemo won with a score of 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 2, and the Russian woman again remained one step away from the trophy of the junior Roland Garros.

Comeback Queen 👑



Elsa Jacquemot battles back from a set down to beat Alina Charaeva 4-6 6-4 6-2 and claim the girls' singles title at #RolandGarros



She becomes the first French player to win the title since @KikiMladenovic in 2009 🏆 pic.twitter.com/zKT1OF3uIx

- ITF (@ITF_Tennis) October 10, 2020

Sensation from Schwöntek

The main event of the penultimate day of Roland Garros was the women's final, in which the Russian fans could also have their favorite.

Moscow-born Sophia Kenin, an American, dated 19-year-old Yaga Schwöntek.

But the polka ended up creating the loudest sensation at the French Open and winning her first Grand Slam tournament.

Schwöntek has never won a single WTA title in her entire career, and before the start of Roland Garros she was only 54th in the world rankings.

But in Paris, the Polish tennis player unexpectedly found herself at a level unattainable for her rivals.

Already in the first round, she beat last year's finalist Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic, and then the first racket of the tournament, Simone Halep from Romania.

After that, on the way to the final, Schwentek had only two qualifying participants, Italian Martina Trevisan and Argentinean Nadia Podoroshka, whom she also easily passed.

Before the meeting with Kenin Schwöntek did not concede a single set and lost only 23 games.

In the final match, the Polish woman continued her incredible dominance.

She won 12 of the first 15 draws, immediately leading 3-0 in games.

Kenin had to make a lot of efforts to recoup, but she again found herself in the role of catch-up when Schwöntek, on the third attempt, implemented a break point in the ten-minute eighth game.

The American tennis player managed to play one set point at the reception and close the gap, but she again failed with her next serve.

The first set was reserved for the 19-year-old athlete.

In the second game, the rivals continued to exchange breaks, but this stopped very quickly.

Kenin took a medical time out to bandage his leg, and after that she seemed to disappear from the court.

Schwöntek won five games in a row, losing only four points during that time.

It took her less than an hour and a half to become the first Polish woman to win a Grand Slam title in history.

Schwöntek did not concede a single set for the entire Roland Garros, which Justine Henin was the last to achieve in 2007.

She also became only the second tennis player after the Latvian Elena Ostapenko, who won the main clay tournament without seeding.

Finally, Schwöntek became the first 21st-born athlete to conquer a major.

From 54th place in the WTA rankings, she will now rise immediately to 17th.